Keith Gooden
Welcome to the Motorhome Matt podcast. I’m Keith Gooden.
Matt Sims
And I’m Motorhome Matt.
Keith Gooden
And we’re here every week in audio and in vision to give you the very best of advice whether you’ve got a motorhome or caravan or you just like camping out.
Matt Sims
Indeed. Well, we try, don’t we?
Keith Gooden
We do try, and to some measure, we have been successful with record downloads! Thank you very much. And of course, we are award winners as well.
Matt Sims
We are double award-winning now. We’ve got two trophies. One’s on the way, Keith. I’m going to bring it in soon. You can polish it in the studio very soon.
Keith Gooden
I will because I can’t take it home. Matt gets to keep all of them on his wall of fame at home.
Matt Sims
Bedside cabinet next to the picture of you.
Keith Gooden
It’s all brought to you with www.thatleisureshop.com.
CGear’s sand-free mat at That Leisure Shop
Keith Gooden
So let’s start off this podcast with what’s new in the shop.
Matt Sims
Lots of things arriving for the season. It’s been exciting. We’ve got this great new product. Have you heard of the CGear sand-free mat?
Keith Gooden
The sand-free mat? No. My wife does call me a sand magnet when we are on the beach. Has it got anything to do with that?
Matt Sims
Could be… so when we put a mat on the beach, what did the children and the dogs do immediately? They run across it, don’t they?
Keith Gooden
Yes.
Matt Sims
Well, these mats – you sprinkle dry sand on them and it just disappears through the mat. It’s incredible. It’s really clever technology. There have been lots of them around over the years, but these are the original sand-free mat.
They were invented in Australia for the military. So did you know that helicopters when they land on sand in the desert, or anywhere that’s sandy, they get sand into the engines and it kills the helicopter? They crash. And there were hundreds of helicopters getting these sand out disasters.
So the military pegged down these mats next to each other so the helicopters could land, and there would be no sand coming up from the ground into the helicopter. And so this company has taken this product and they’re selling them into the leisure market. You put them outside the campervan or on the beach, and any sand disappears through them. That is incredible.
Keith Gooden
You stay sand free. And I understand, Matt, that they don’t kill the grass.
Matt Sims
No, that’s right. So the guy we buy them from who has imported them into the UK, a local chap, he said he went on a fishing trip for five days and put one down on the grass inside his tent and placed on the mat a cool box. And he was there for five days fishing. And when he packed up to go, there was no mark on the grass except where the cool box had been – a tiny patch.
Normally, you’d expect the whole patch to be brown and the grass to die. So I think campsites are going to love these mats because there’s nothing more annoying when you leave a campsite for a campsite owner, and you’ve got all these brown patches where people have been pitched out for a week and they’ve killed the grass.
It’s not very welcoming for the next family. So I think these are a game changer for campsites, and they’re not expensive either. So yes, go and check them out on www.thatleisureshop.com. We’ve got them in stock in a range of colours, orange, of course!
Keith Gooden
Of course.
Matt Sims
And we’ve got blue, green and tan. So there’s a whole variety there. We’re taking them to the shows, and we’re demonstrating them with play sand. They are really clever. I love them.
Keith Gooden
And they’re called the sand mat?
Matt Sims
The sand-free mat from CGear.
Keith Gooden
Sand-free mat.
Vanlifers being asked to move on from The Downs in Bristol
Keith Gooden
Let’s delve into the news right now then, shall we, Matt? The Downs! Up here around Bristol, we’ve got quite a lot of van lifers, not people who are just doing it as a hobby, but really are living in their vans. And The Downs in the middle of Bristol is a large green space that’s open to the public. They’ve been in the news. Why is that?
Matt Sims
Well, because they’re being told they’ve got to move on. So the local Green councillor has told them they’re going to have to move. So she’s trying to get them moved away on the grounds that they’ve got gas bottles there, which are considered a danger to life. So there is a number of gas bottles. There are pictures of them outside of a caravan.
Keith Gooden
Well, hang on a second. Gas bottles? Everybody who’s got a barbecue has got a gas bottle, haven’t they? So you have rows of terraced houses with barbecues, every house or every other house. They’ve got gas bottles and they’re not considered a danger to life, are they?
Matt Sims
No, they’re certainly not a danger to life. And I have to be honest, I think they’re barking up the wrong tree with this. I think the danger would be if people were smoking around the gas bottles and the gas bottles were leaking. That would be the danger. Calor’s gas distribution centre is not… there are risks there, sure, but it doesn’t blow up.
So I think there’s an underlying issue here. I did approach the Green Party and Paula O’Rourke specifically and asked her to engage with me on this topic, and I’ve not had a reply, sadly. So Paula, if you’re listening, we really would love to talk to you about this and have a conversation about why these van lifers need to move on.
And what’s going to be the knock on effect of this? Where are they going to live? What is the real issue? I honestly don’t think gas bottles placed outside of a caravan or motorhome are a risk and a reason why they should move on.
Keith Gooden
Well, there is either a law saying you can’t park your van on The Downs in Bristol or you can’t live permanently in it, or you can’t have a gas bottle outside of it. It’s a law. But if it’s not a law, it’s an excuse. And health and safety are used as an excuse many times. I remember doing lots of interviews on the radio and they’d say, “Health and safety.”
And I’d say, “Exactly which law is that, then?” And of course, they were making it up as they went along. So they’re either breaking the law or they’re not. Now, I’m not particularly in favour of them doing what they’re doing or against it. But if the council has the power to move them on, just move them on using existing laws.
Matt Sims
Maybe you live in a van through choice or maybe not through choice. We’d love to hear from you. Of course, this is a national story. We’re focusing on The Downs in Bristol, where there are lots of van lifers living and they have been for what, over 10 years now, haven’t they?
Keith Gooden
A long time.
Matt Sims
Why is it suddenly an issue? Are you one of them? We’ve tried to find people that live there, but it’s hard to find people and have them willing to come and talk to us. We have had people approach us that were in Exmouth as well, and we’ve gone back to them but we were unable to engage with them again. So if you’re living in your van in a city somewhere and you’re being told you need to move on, will you talk to us?
And if you’re on a council somewhere in the country and you’ve got a group of van lifers living in your city and you want them to move on, will you talk to us? Why can’t they live there, and where should they go? This is a lifestyle that many people are choosing to have. Some are not choosing, it’s circumstance. But this is a growing lifestyle. This is a growing group of people. It’s a growing community nationally, and we need to embrace it and understand what’s going on here.
Keith Gooden
And we have to distinguish here between the travelling community which culturally has lived in caravans and travelled around the country and these vanlifers who aren’t travellers but are living in vans instead of houses. It’s a new category of vanlifer, isn’t it?
Matt Sims
Yeah, that’s right. Yeah. And the travelling communities have rules in which they live within, don’t they? They have areas of land dedicated to them where they can build their community and they can reside. And van lifers can stay anywhere, really. And they just park at the side of the road. I guess the only rules they have to comply with is that the vehicle they’re in is taxed and MOTed. What’s the underlying story here? Do you reckon we can get to the bottom of it? Is it about money? Is it about council tax not being paid?
Keith Gooden
We’ll have to find out, and we will find out for you. Also with Exmouth lorry park… we’ve mentioned this a couple of previous podcasts. An old lorry park in Exmouth was being refurbished and some van lifers moved in to live in their vans. They weren’t doing anybody any harm. And they’ve been asked now to move on. Elliott got in touch with us. We’ve be trying to track you down, Elliott, so we can do that interview with you. We are keen to have you on the podcast. So please get in touch.
Matt Sims
Yeah, Elliott’s a keen listener. So yeah, we would love to hear back from you, Elliott.
Keith Gooden
So where should he get in touch?
Matt Sims
Elliott’s got my mobile number. We’ve had a WhatsApp conversation. I’d love to hear back from you, Elliott, please.
Keith Gooden
Absolutely. So Elliot, please get in touch. It is the Motorhome Matt podcast brought to you with www.thatleisureshop.com.
The future of Ford in the motor industry
Keith Gooden
Today, Ford future vehicles is what we’re concentrating on in the main part of the podcast. And you’ve been talking to somebody, Matt.
Matt Sims
Yeah, we’ve had now a good friend of the podcast. Ryan Bowdidge has been in the studio. Ryan is head of leisure vehicles for Ford Pro across Europe. So he’s the guy who’s in charge of the Ford chassis that get given or sold to the motorhome converters to make a motorhome on. And as an industry we’ve seen a huge growth in the number of Ford badges on the fronts of our motorhomes. And I asked Ryan a little bit more about that.
And it’s great to have him on the podcast because the relationship between Ford and a motorhome owner is normally a bit interrupted by the manufacturer. Ford is a very much a B2B or business to business operation in this sector. So for Ryan almost to put his head above the parapet and come and engage with us as a consumer podcast I think was a real privilege. So I asked Ryan more about Ford’s future plans for the leisure sector and particularly motorhomes.
Today I wanted to pick your brain a bit more on the future of Ford, because Ford are growing in our marketplace at a significant rate. We’re seeing more Ford badges on the fronts of our motorhomes that we buy, particularly the coachbuilt ones. So it’d be great just to delve into your crystal ball… I get told off for saying that! Just tell us a bit more about Ford’s future. What’s great though, as a listener – we’re very much a consumer podcast. Ryan is very much a behind the scenes kind of guy. Can I call you that?
Ryan Bowdidge
Yeah, I think that’s absolutely fair. So my typical day job involves working with the converters in this space, right, so the large leisure converters not only in the UK, but all around Europe. So household names such as Trigano, the Erwin Heimer group, Rapido and in the UK, Swift, Bailey, Auto-Trail, who are obviously part of the Trigano group. But my day job is working with them and not necessarily with the end customer, because the end customer is the converter’s customer.
Matt Sims
That’s right. And normally between us, the consumer, and you, Ford, there’s a motorhome manufacturer in the way.
Ryan Bowdidge
Yeah, absolutely.
Matt Sims
It’s really good to get your voice talking to us directly sort of bypassing the motorhome manufacturers and just getting an insight into what we are in for from Ford, because as I said already, we’re going to see more and more Ford products in the market, and we’ll talk about that in a minute.
The Ford Transit Custom
Matt Sims
So let’s just start with the Transit Custom. Just define that for us. What is that van? Are you prepared to compare it to another product?
Ryan Bowdidge
Yeah, if I have to! I’ll be careful which one I choose, maybe, but yeah. And Transit Custom is really exciting for us because we’re launching an all new one imminently. But for the viewers out there, the audience out there, Transit Custom – you can think of it as what we call a one tonne size vehicle. So it’s typically the smaller sized van which other OEMs out there such as the Volkswagen Transporter…
Matt Sims
You said it!
Ryan Bowdidge
Yeah, I know!
Matt Sims
So it’s typically a pop top camper van, isn’t it?
Ryan Bowdidge
Yeah, a pop top camper van is typically what you’ll see that size vehicle be converted into.
Matt Sims
Yeah, so we’ve got the Transit Custom, so we’ll talk about that some more. And then we’ve got the Transit itself, which is what our coachbuilt motorhomes are built on. So what are we in store for with the Transit Custom?
Ryan Bowdidge
The Transit Custom is launching at the end of this year, the end of 2023, as basically an all new product. So we’ve had our existing Transit Custom out there for about 10 years now. It’s done fantastically well. And it was the time to basically launch an all new product in that segment. So it’s coming shortly. But it’s also really exciting for me specifically as a camper donor type product as well.
Matt Sims
What’s new about it?
Ryan Bowdidge
Everything! But to just drill down into a few specifics, so the fact that it’s designed and developed from the ground with up new vehicle architecture, so things like it being lower to the ground. Simple things. It’s lower to the ground, which makes it easier to get in and out of. We’ve cleaned up the interior cab space of the vehicle at the front. So for example, it comes with standard features such as electronic parking brakes, and also it’s got a different shifter mechanism.
And all of that stuff means that you clear up that space in the cab so as you can walk across, walk around within the vehicle and move around in the cab a lot easier, which is great specifically for a camper product. As well as that it comes with things like a 13-inch touchscreen infotainment system, bringing it much more in line with what you’d see in high end passenger vehicles today, right? So we’re all getting used to in our cars, big screen technology, shall I say?
And now you’re going to be seeing that also in the commercial vehicles. What’s really exciting I think specifically for the leisure industry is the way we’re thinking about the camper industry in that we have internally at Ford now what we call a camper donor product. So before I think it’s fair to say that camper conversions could have been a little bit of an afterthought.
So sure, we were supplying vans or Kombis to the converters, but there were a lot of potential inefficiencies in doing that. One of the things that we did as part of this development was to go round and have a look in at the converter skips to see what parts they were throwing away. Nobody wants the throw away parts, right? Really inefficient, bad for the environment, bad for your business. So we said, “Okay, let’s learn from that and let’s make a more bespoke donor product.”
Matt Sims
So what does that mean, rotating seats, trim removed from the back?
Ryan Bowdidge
Yeah, absolutely. So all of those essentials you want to get as a body builder, as a converter, so absolutely swivel seats passenger and driver – a must have for your camper. Removed trims in the back is an option. So if you’re going to do what I think of as like a California kitchen layout down one side of the vehicle, of course you don’t need any vehicle trims down that side, right? You’re going to take those out and throw them away, so you can get that in the base vehicle, it’s just a few little things.
Matt Sims
So does the new Custom have one sliding door?
Ryan Bowdidge
So you’ve got an option as to whether you want one sliding door or dual sliding doors, of course depending on what layout you do in your vehicle. There are lots of different configurations that you can get. So I’m hoping we’re going to see a lot of variety out there in terms of that.
Matt Sims
Is there the option for a near side sliding door in the UK, so left hand side?
Ryan Bowdidge
What we do is that in the UK, if we have a single side load door, as we call it, we always make sure that that’s on the curbside of the vehicle.
Matt Sims
Unlike VW.
Ryan Bowdidge
Yeah, unlike VW. And that’s a bit of a Ford philosophy. We’ve got, I would say, an extra emphasis on customer safety. And so the thing for us is that we don’t want our customers in the rear potentially having to step out into the road.
Matt Sims
And rear doors – is there an option for split barndoors?
Ryan Bowdidge
We’ve gone predominately with a tailgate style on the camper donor, because that seems to be the most popular conversion type out there. I think, again, if we look at the products today, there are products with barndoors, and they’re the ones that have typically been converted from a van-based product. But the feedback I get from converters from the customers is that tailgate is what they’re after.
Ford and VW Transporter collaboration
Matt Sims
Now, I’m only going to touch on this. I’m not going to ask you to talk about it. But the good news for Volkswagen is that their new Transporters are Ford Transits, aren’t they? I didn’t warn you I was going to mention it!
Ryan Bowdidge
This is an interesting subject, shall we say, and one I’ll try to avoid getting into hot water with! But yeah, it’s fair to say that Ford and VW have announced we’ve entered into an alliance. The next generation one tonne cargo van, as we’ve called it in the press, for VW will be based on Ford architecture. So yeah, we’re really excited about that alliance. I’m sure there’ll be lots of information coming from VW on that.
Matt Sims
It’s interesting because the consensus here is that the T6, if you bought one now, so a pure VW, will go up in value because it’s the last thoroughbred Volkswagen. So for those who are VW purists, they’ll want the T6 because they don’t want to Ford. But it’s one to watch, isn’t it?
Ryan Bowdidge
You can’t deny the history that Volkswagen have got in this camper space, right? They’ve got many, many years of fantastic products out there. So we’re always looking at the competition, seeing what they do, seeing how we can do better. And of course, in the world of campers, we’d be looking at someone like VW.
Diesel, PHEV and BEV Transit Custom options
Matt Sims
The Transit Custom, then – the new one is diesel. But there are other versions coming as well. We’ve got diesel, PHEV and BEV, which sounds like a girlband!
Ryan Bowdidge
Yeah, absolutely!
Matt Sims
Talk us through the three options and when they are happening.
Ryan Bowdidge
We’ve got a diesel version and there’s new capability with that as well. So for example, we’ve got a diesel all wheel drive.
Matt Sims
For a campervan?
Ryan Bowdidge
If you want it as a campervan, absolutely. So if you’re doing a bit of off roading in your camper, that could be a good option for you. But as well as that, in the not too distant future, early next year, we’ll be looking at the BEV, which is the fully electric, Battery Electric Vehicle. And then we’ve got the PHEV, the Plug in Hybrid Electric Vehicle as well. So we’ve got a full range of powertrain options.
Matt Sims
So it’s interesting that you’ve done a van on a PHEV, the plugin, the hybrid. We know about these rules in 2030. All vehicles have to be minimum able to travel a distance – I think that the industry accepted length is 80 miles. The Custom is not quite there, though, is it? Because the PHEV does how many, what, 30 miles on electric?
Ryan Bowdidge
Yes, I think at the minute they’re they’re still working through their official calculations, should we say? But I think it should be in excess of 30 miles fully electric. So the system used in the new Transit Custom PHEV is the same as what we have in our Cougars today, if you’re familiar with a cougar.
Matt Sims
So that’s petrol, then? Petrol and electric. We’ve gone back in time! We’ve gone back to petrol vans.
Ryan Bowdidge
Yeah, that’s one way to look at it! Yeah. Back in time to one extent, but of course, hybrid with hybrid technology, right? So cutting edge hybrid technologies that we’ll be familiar with from passenger vehicles, which is great. So I drive around in a cougar hybrid today. My journey to work is about 10 miles. 10 miles there, 10 miles back, so I can do all of that electric, which is something you can consider.
Matt Sims
So the market then, for the Transit Custom as campervan – a PHEV is going to be someone who lives in the city in a low emissions zone. This is going to be exempt from a penalty for driving it in. Is that the market you’re aiming this at?
Ryan Bowdidge
Yeah, well, the legislation, I think, changes all the time. As to whether it’d be exempt tomorrow, who knows? I think for me, the plug in hybrid is is a great balance, right? Because if you’re someone who wants to do longer distance journeys, you’ve got that capability through using your petrol side of things.
But if you want to be able to do a number of miles fully electric, say because you might be using this as your daily commuter, like I do my Cougar, then you can absolutely do that. And of course, if there are areas that are restricting vehicles to be zero emissions only then there’s of course then the potential that you could use the plug in hybrid as well.
The E-Transit
Matt Sims
And hybrid is a great stepping stone, isn’t it? We’ve got a hybrid car. It’s a Toyota Yaris. It’s our second one and that’s our kind of runaround car. Less than a year ago I was pretty anti EV, I have to say. Where we live is very remote. Having a charging point at home is very difficult. I don’t drive anywhere near an electric charging point. Well, I didn’t! I do now, oddly. But I’m a bit of a convert. I love a hybrid.
And I love watching that monitor on the screen when I’m on battery and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. And then the little petrol engine kicks in. It’s like, “Oh no! Slow down.” So it’s educated me on how much energy I’m using how I’m driving, and I actually think a hybrid car is a really good educator and a great transitional step to convert someone like me who’s a bit of a petrolhead. I love my diesel motorhome.
But actually, I can see there is a future for EV in our little sector. And it’s been a good educator for me. So let’s go to transit. So this is the two tonne van you call it, don’t you? This is what we see coachbuilt motorhomes being built on. What’s the future for Transit?
Ryan Bowdidge
For Transit, we’ve got not only our chassis that we provide into the industry for motorhome conversion, but there’s also a growing market of panel van conversions now, so more campervans but in that bigger size. So today already, we have E-Transit available. There are plenty out there at the minute.
And in fact, just as recently as last week, there was an Asda supermarket delivery vehicle around the corner from me dropping off groceries with its E-Transit unit. So that was great to see. I think it’s fair to say that in terms of the leisure segment, E-Transit is probably going to be something that takes a bit of time to gain traction. So we are seeing now that there’s…
Matt Sims
Generally or in our market?
Ryan Bowdidge
In the leisure market. So E-Transit is great in terms of things like last mile delivery, so supermarket guys, right, again.
Matt Sims
They’re carrying apples and pears!
Ryan Bowdidge
Yeah, that’s right. They can still be quite heavily loaded. But the thing is that they do relatively low mileage, right? So you see the things going around all the time and you think they do big miles, but they don’t. They stay to quite a small area. And they might only do 50 miles in a day. And E-Transit’s absolutely perfect.
Matt Sims
The range of an E-Transit is, what, 130 miles?
Ryan Bowdidge
We quote our WLTP figures. The WLTP I think is about 190. But it’s fair to say that when you load that up with a camper conversion… which is a lot of weight, right? You’re putting a lot of weight in the back of the vehicle. You’re basically running it fully loaded. The benchmark I like to use there is Winnebago out in America, who did an E-Transit conversion. I think they were typically seeing something about 130 miles.
Matt Sims
Which is not really realistic, is it, for a motorhome owner?
Ryan Bowdidge
Yeah, it would be very niche, right? Again, of course, it all depends on what you’re doing with your motorhome but yeah, I’m willing to admit that it’ll be quite a niche thing in this segment for a period of time.
Matt Sims
But the future is exciting for E-Transit in our market because a manufacturer has already converted one. So Bürstner launched in Germany last year in 2022. They brought it to the UK this year. I mean, apparently they had to take all the batteries out when they converted it because they were paranoid about something blowing up. That’s just not viable though, is it?
Ryan Bowdidge
And this is the thing about E-Transit being out there today. It’s giving the converters the opportunity to learn, which is really important because we know this is coming. We know it’s happening. But they can’t all learn all at the last minute. So they’re buying the vehicles now, they’re performing conversions on them, their engineers are gaining the knowledge that they need to gain in terms of what’s different versus a diesel.
And then they’ll take that forwards as they start to produce these more more widely. It’s relatively niche at the minute. We’ll see a handful of prototypes out there for the time being. We might see a few more than that in a few years. Let’s see and hope. And then really, for me, I think the big stepping stone will be what comes maybe more into the future.
Bailey of Bristol’s Ford E-Transit conversion
Matt Sims
So version one. So very close to home, Bailey of Bristol have had an E-Transit and have converted it into a campervan. In fact, we’ve just seen it launched in the press. It’s a prototype, so you can’t actually buy it. But they’ve had it, and it’s back with you at the moment, isn’t it?
Ryan Bowdidge
Yeah, absolutely. So we had effectively 10 E-Transit prototypes that we handed out to a number of converters. And that was all about getting them on board with the process, helping them to understand how to convert on an E Transit and also then getting feedback back to Ford on that. So Bailey was selected as one of those partners.
We were keen to partner with someone in the leisure industry. They have done an E-Transit panel van conversion, which is great. We’ve had that back at Dunton just recently. We’ve had the team poring over it. We had a great presentation from the Bailey team. They put a lot of thought into the conversion specifically around things such as sustainability. Because again, that’s a really important part of the E-story, shall we say?
It’s not just about the vehicle, but it’s about everything else and making sure it’s sustainable and good for the planet. Yeah, it’s a prototype. But again, it’s all about them learning how to convert on an E-donor, as opposed to something else so as again in the future when this becomes more prevalent, they’ve got that capability and that knowledge they’re and ready to go. As well as that, it’s about putting out a message to the industry that this is coming. Here it is. Bailey have done the work to get the learnings here, but now it’s up to everyone else.
Matt Sims
So is it fair to say then that Bailey are the first UK manufacturer to build a campervan on an E-Transit?
Ryan Bowdidge
Yeah, absolutely. They’re the first in the UK, as you mentioned already. We had the one from Bürstner which we saw last year. But yeah, Bailey is the first UK homegrown E-Transit campervan conversion.
Matt Sims
Fantastic. And they are taking it to the NEC show as a prototype to say, “We’re embracing this change. It’s coming. Come and have a look.”
Ryan Bowdidge
Yeah, absolutely. It’ll be at the NEC. So we’re hoping to get lots of engagement again, and to get the potential end customers’ viewpoints on this. Does it work for them? What doesn’t work? What do we take away from that? And how do we then roll that into a future product?
Matt Sims
So that’s the NEC show in October this year. So we’ll stay tuned and we’ll be looking out for that, definitely. Ryan, you mentioned that this campervan conversion from Bailey is at your base in Dunton. And you’ve invited us to come and have a go in it and come and see it. Is that okay?
Ryan Bowdidge
Yeah, absolutely, as long as you don’t mind the drive and can suffer the M25 round to our home in Dunton in Essex. But yeah, we’d absolutely love to have you there. We’ll show you around the vehicle, we’ll show you a little bit of what Dunton has to offer. And we’ll see if we can get you a drive around the test track as well.
Matt Sims
Yeah, that would be brilliant. Well, let’s do that. We’ll see if we can get an appointment in your diary to do that next week!
Ford’s leisure industry strategy
Matt Sims
For you, Ryan, the future is really a massive learning curve, isn’t it? We talk about a bell curve with initial early adopters taking the product, and then it becomes mass market. But it’s all very unknown for you as a manufacturer, and you’re on this massive journey. It’s an exciting time to be alive, isn’t it? But what is Ford’s strategy as we go into the next decade and next 30 years? Can you share a bit about that?
Ryan Bowdidge
Yeah. Within the leisure industry, I think Ford has been growing now for a number of years. I mean, historically we’ve been I think in about seventh position as an OEM within the industry. Of course, Fiat have been number one and dominating for many, many year with something like 60 or 70% market share.
Matt Sims
More than that?
Ryan Bowdidge
Yeah, quite possibly. Within the two tonne segment, that is. Of course, times have changed for various reasons, supply constraints, etc. But Ford are serious about getting into the leisure industry. We’ve got great products out there now, we’ve got great partnerships with converters all around Europe and in the UK as well, of course.
Matt Sims
I know you’ve introduced this thing you call an anchor customer. What’s that?
Ryan Bowdidge
The key thing is that as we move forward with the development of new products, we want to as early as possible get the feedback from our converters and from our customers to make sure we’re on the right track.
And the great thing is that for our some of our future products, we’ve already been working with experts in the leisure industry, again, to make sure what we’re doing is suitable for leisure specifically as well as other industries. We get their feedback whilst we can still do something in the product development cycle, take the feedback on board and make changes.
Matt Sims
And your view of the world is Europe wide, isn’t it? It’s not just the UK. You’re responsible for leisure vehicles from Ford across the whole of Europe.
Ryan Bowdidge
Yeah, that’s absolutely right. I’ve got colleagues and customers that I work with in France, in Germany, in Italy and Spain, so it’s focused around four or five key markets in Europe where we operate, but very much European based.
Matt Sims
Well, we love the fact that you are here in Britain, flying our flag across Europe. That’s fantastic.
Alternative fuel research from Ford
Matt Sims
Now, the future – it very much feels a little bit like we’re being railroaded into a world of electric vehicles. Can I say that? The UK government certainly has almost written off, it seems, every other source of power. And we are being a little bit forced into this EV corner, I feel. And I know lots of our listeners agree with me.
Mark in Bristol, so local to us, asks a great question. I’ll read it to you and maybe you can come back to us on it. He says, “The EV is a good concept. Once it’s on the road, how are the manufacturers going to offset the building of these vehicles? They’re going to need a good bank of batteries etc. which creates more harm long term to the environment. They have to be mined and manufactured and then once used cannot be recycled.”
“Maybe the manufacturers should look to hydrogen technology, like JCB.” What’s Ford’s view on hydrogen? We know battery technology is evolving from lithium. We know there’s sodium technology coming. But where is Ford in all of that future?
Ryan Bowdidge
It’s a timely question, because it was just this week that Ford announced a study on hydrogen fuel cell technology. So that’s working with the Advanced Propulsion Centre. I think the point here is that all our eggs are not in one EV sized basket, right? We know there are different options out there for future propulsion.
EV is one of those, hydrogen fuel cells is another and there are others beside that as well. And we’re keeping our minds open, right? So that’s why we’re doing the study to see the benefits to see if it makes sense, and to see if that’s something that we put into wider production going forward.
Matt Sims
And of course, there’s all about infrastructure as well, which you have no control or influence directly over that. But you know, Ford starts investing hugely in hydrogen, then the hydrogen infrastructure to dispense that fuel will start to grow, won’t it?
Ryan Bowdidge
Yeah, absolutely. And of course, it’s not just hinged on what Ford does, but more what the the wider automotive sector does. Again, I think it’s fair to say other OEMs are looking at various technologies. Some are more into perhaps hydrogen-based solutions, others EV. There’s a range there. So be interesting to see what the future holds.
Matt Sims
And is Ford looking at synthetic fuel, E-fuel as it’s often referred to?
Ryan Bowdidge
Yeah, so again, that’s another interesting one, because just relatively recently we announced working with a very famous F1 team called Red Bull. F1 are very much looking into the future of sustainable fuels. And again, that’s another example of where Ford are partnering to get engineering information learnings from another segment, motorsport, that can then potentially flow back into more mainstream products.
Matt Sims
Ryan, it’s been an absolute pleasure to have you with us here. Thank you so much for visiting us here in our little corner of North Somerset. Having a glance inside your head has been fascinating!
Keith Gooden
Fantastic! A really great interview. And remember, you can see it on our YouTube channel as well.
Matt Sims
Yeah, and stay tuned for this future episode. I’m really excited about it. The E-Transit is definitely here to stay. And we are undoubtedly going to see it in the motorhome world. So you will get a sneak preview with us. So we’re very excited to go and find out more about that.
Keith Gooden
It’s the Motorhome Matt podcast brought to you with www.thatleisureshop.com with me, Keith Gooden.
Matt Sims
And I’m Motorhome Matt!
Audience Q&A
Dave: “Can you explain Bailey’s use of the Whale adapter on my Adamo?”
Keith Gooden
It’s my favourite part of every podcast – our audience Q&A, where you get in touch with us. And hopefully we give you the answers that you’re seeking. Dave got in touch!
Dave
Hi Matt and Keith, well done on the podcasts. Dave here from just down the road in Taunton. And the question relates to external Whale water port adapter. I’m just buying an Adamo 75-4DL, the first van that I’ve used with a Whale adapter. I don’t understand why Bailey need to have the Whale adapter. So if you happen to know the answer to that it would just be interesting.
But more importantly, with a Whale adapter, can you actually get an adapter to attach that to a blue food grade water hose and just fill it normally, from a tap? There seems quite a bit of confusion around this. Secondly, there’s talk of using an onboard pump activated by the control panel in the Adamo to onboard water. And my question is, why?
And do you have to use that pump? Because it would be a lot easier just to fill it like normal with a normal hose and when the water pours out of the hole, stop filling! Grateful for views and advice. Cheers.
Keith Gooden
So Matt, that one puts you on the spot – whales and pumps.
Matt Sims
It does! I’ve actually had the pleasure of meeting Dave. He and his wife came up to the shop. And I was in the shop serving. It was my turn on the rota. And Dave, it was lovely to meet you and your wife and she did confess, “Matt, he’s obsessed with you.” Apparently he is a big fan! So Dave, thanks for your question. Really appreciate it.
We actually took the question to Bailey. And I’m pleased to tell you, Dave, that one of the directors at Bailey has helped us answer the question. I went through the question and thought, “Yes, I know the answer to this. But I thought I’m just going to double check with Bailey on their view as well.”
So Simon, thank you ever so much for answering this and helping me come back to Dave with an answer. So firstly, why do Bailey use this Whale fitting? My view would be that Bailey’s heritage is in caravans and these have always been prolific in caravans. And they’ve been building caravans for, gosh, 40-odd years.
So I think that’s why they use this fitting on the water system, because it’s easy for them to do that. European manufacturers tend to have a hole with a cap on that you just poke the hose in and the hose falls out and water goes everywhere. This does stop you doing that. To fill it from a tap – the Adamo does come, Bailey confirmed, with the Whale Aquasource kit.
It’s the little square Whale connector that goes into the wall of the motorhome and then a hose and a screw fixing that goes on the tap. So you can fill it from a tap – use it with foodgrade hose that comes with the motorhome. If you lose that or it gets stolen, you can buy them. We sell them at That Leisure Shop as well for people particularly who have bought a caravan and it hasn’t come with that little fixing kit.
Why is there an external pump? It means that you could draw water out of, say, an Aquaroll, so again back to the caravan heritage. So some kind of water container – you could suck water out of that into the motorhome tank. So if you’re wild camping, you’re off grid and you want to go and get water and bring it to the motorhome, you can and you can then suck that water from that container into the motorhome.
Now, it doesn’t come with an external pump. That is something you would have to buy. Again, we sell them in the shop, and it plugs into your Whale adapter. So that’s why they have that. If you want to fill it without using this Whale attachment you can. You would just get the hose from the tap and feed it straight into the water tank. If you open under the lounge area, you’ll find the water tank. Unscrew the top and pop the hose in the top and you could fill it that way. Hope that answers the question, Dave.
Keith Gooden
There you go. Dave, thanks very much for the question.
Neil: “Can you advise on a layout for us?”
Keith Gooden
Neil Westlake-Guy says, “We’re looking to buy our first campervan, two adults, two Cocker Spaniels, for both short and long trips in the UK, Ireland and Europe. What advice do you have for manufacturers and converters? We don’t want to make a bed each night. We love to walk and cycle on and off grid and explore lakes, coasts, forests and peaks.”
Matt Sims
I’m coming with you. Sounds great, Neil! When are you going? I would suggest if you don’t want to make a bed up then definitely look at a motorhome with a fixed bed. That’s likely to give you a garage where you could put the bikes or a bike rack on the back if you’re prepared to put them on the back of the motorhome.
In terms of the dogs I would definitely be looking at a motorhome with a bigger lounge area, giving room for the dogs to sprawl out, lie down and go to bed. And think about seatbelt numbers as well. There are four of you, basically. You possibly need four seatbelts so the dogs can be clipped in and therefore comply with the rules around travelling with dogs.
You can, however, buy a seatbelt attachment which has a carabiner on. So you could clip that around your seatbelt in the front and attach the dog to that. So if you’re buying a motorhome with only two seatbelts, that could work as well.
Keith Gooden
Hope that has been a help to you, Neil.
Kevin: “Can you advise on my Chausson’s payload?”
Keith Gooden
Kevin Howe’s in Pulborough and says, “Hi, Matt. I’ve just seen the podcast about payload and have a question relating to my Chausson 79EB. We’ve just bought it and thought we’d get it weighed empty. Its mass in running order is 3,150 kilogrammes.
It’s got lots of items fitted as non standard. We also want to take electric bikes, they’re 32 kilogrammes each, food and clothes. So we thought about fitting a tow bar. Fiat VIN plate states 3,500 kilogrammes and 6,250 kilogrammes, but the Chausson plate only states 3,500 kilogrammes and 3,500 kilogrammes, no train weight.
I have a C1 entitlement on my licence, but my son doesn’t. He wants to drive the motorhome. Do I need a VOSA inspection? I don’t know what to do. Please advise.” Now, that is a very technical question.
Matt Sims
It is. So basically, he’s got very limited payload, so the difference between what the motorhome weighs almost empty, and how much he can carry. So the first thing you’ve done there, Kevin, is you’ve weighed yourself, your wife and the dog – the net weights, the curb weight on the mass in running order would normally only include a full tank of diesel, no water, and the driver or an allocation for the driver.
You’ve overloaded it for the point of trying to find the net payload. But what you’re doing is very sensible. So you’ve discovered that it’s got a payload of around 275 kilos, and you’re working out that that’s just not enough. Now, you’ve mentioned about the VIN plate being 3,500 and 6,250 from Fiat. That is what it is.
Why the Chausson one is 3,500 and 3,500 I don’t know. That could be an error, but they won’t have taken away the train weight. So it could take a tow bar. Remember that carries a weight, and you could tow the wife and the dog or the bikes and stuff, more to the point. So that’s one solution. But then you do have to remember that your son can only tow a train weight of three and a half tonnes.
So he would have to get a C1 licence if you’re going to plate it or you’re going to have to buy a different type of motorhome. This is such a massive topic, isn’t it? We keep coming back to it. Payloads and motorhomes are a real issue and they’re often insufficient. Most motorhomes are often travelling down the road overweight. We are actually going to do an episode with the specialists SvTech.
They’ve asked to come on the podcast, and we’re talking to them about doing an episode with them in the future. So stay tuned for that. But I would definitely consider getting in touch with them before you get in touch with VOSA. They would be able to advise you on what you could do to potentially up plate the motorhome.
But of course at the moment, that would mean your son couldn’t drive it. But it’s also worth noting that Parliament are due to review this C1 category and revoke it, potentially. The Department for Transport are putting a case together. It’s due to go to Parliament this year.
We’re trying to find out if it’s been heard yet. We’ve not any news yet. But potentially that would mean that we would go back to the old rules that we could all drive up to seven and a half tonnes as soon as we’ve passed our test.
Keith Gooden
And yeah, with this government’s time running out – we have to have a general election by November 2024 – don’t hold your breath for this sort of legislation to be changed. They might drop it. What about his son just taking the test?
Matt Sims
Well, he could. That’s going to cost £1,000 pounds and a week of his life, probably.
Keith Gooden
£1,000?!
Matt Sims
Yeah. I mean, you can do it for a lower cost than that. One of our family did it for about £500, but she went and coordinated all the bits of the test together so she could drive a horsebox. But I would hang on. You say we’re going to run out of time. The thing is, the towing rules changed so that people could get to drive an HGV with less resistance.
There’s already a rule that means if your vehicle is fully electric, you can drive it at four and a quarter tonnes. This is not widely reported. We were talking about this on a previous episode. And people have commented saying, “I didn’t know that.” So people say, “Well, with a battery at three and a half tonnes it’s going to be overweight.”
No, if it’s all electric, it can be 4,250. That’s already a government ruling. So I think they are highly likely to revoke this and it will just mean that people can get in a seven and a half tonne lorry and become a delivery driver without having to take a test. And with a shortage of lorry drivers, that’s the agenda.
Keith Gooden
Yeah, you make a good point. So fingers crossed. Thanks, Kevin, very much for that question.
Keep in touch with Matt and Keith
Keith Gooden
If people want to get in touch with us or they want to see us on YouTube, what do they need to do, Matt?
Matt Sims
It’s easy. Search Motorhome Matt on the internet and you’ll find us on YouTube. You’ll find all the podcast episodes on our website at www.motorhomematt.co.uk, and you’ll find us on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok as Motorhome Matt as well.
